Minnesota Timeline of Events

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Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state on May 11, 1858...

Timeline of Events

1679

7.2.1679

Europeans first visit Minnesota and see headwaters of Mississippi in an expedition led by Daniel Greysolon de Du Luth.

1858

5.11.1858

Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. State.

1862

8.17.1862

Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Lakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.

8.19.1862

Indian Wars: during an uprising in Minnesota, Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily-defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way.

11.5.1862

Indian Wars: In Minnesota, 303 Dakota warriors are found guilty of rape and murder of whites and are sentenced to hang. 38 are ultimately executed and the others reprieved.

1867

12.4.1867

Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (better known today as the Grange).

1918

10.12.1918

A massive forest fire kills 453 people in Minnesota.

1920

6.15.1920

Duluth lynchings in Minnesota.

1986

7.18.1986

A tornado is broadcast live on KARE television in Minnesota when the station's helicopter pilot makes a chance encounter.

1999

1.4.1999

Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota.

2007

8.1.2007

The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour.